June 2011 - Visit our new Blog!! Many thanks to Anna Guess Pick, a descendent of one of the original pioneers of the El Monte area and a volunteer and friend of the cemetery for many years, who has created a new blog for Savannah which she will maintain. New content is being added often, so be sure to check it frequently. Visit Savannah's Blog.
May 2011 - Unearthing a Treasure - We had evidence that a government headstone had been provided for one of our Civil War Union Veterans, Edward A. Eddy, however it was not visible in the cemetery. On our annual Cleanup Day, May 28, 2011, we probed and found that the stone was there and had gotten buried. It has now been unearthed and we hope to raise the stone up to ground level again, otherwise it will fill up again with grass cuttings and dirt and become buried again. Edward A. Eddy died in 1896 and the stone was placed in 1897 See a picture of the stone at FindAGrave.
May 2011 - Margaret Alley of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, has been instrumental in working with us to procure headstones for our Civil War Confederate Veterans who do not have a headstone. The Department of Veterans Affairs provides the free headstones. The headstones have been received and we are planning to set them in their places as soon as possible. Accomplishing that, Margaret has now taken on the research for our Civil War Union Veterans and we hope to apply for those headstones soon. Our thanks and appreciation to Margaret for her dedication to these veterans and her interest in Savannah.
June 22, 2009 - California American Water donated and installed a weather-based irrigation controller system. The system provides the ability to control and monitor the irrigation system in the cemetery to save water. Our deepest thanks to California American Water! Read the full News Release
NEWS
August 2011 - CHILDREN OF THE SAVANNAH
"Little Charlie", Baby Turner, and Alice are just three of over seven hundred children buried in Savannah Memorial Park - A Pioneer Cemetery since the 1850s. Baby Turner died at birth after his mother was shot during an 1874 robbery at the family's general store on La Puente Creek. Unlike the beautiful headstone for one year old Alice Guess, the Turner baby is one of many laid to rest in unmarked graves in what was then known as El Monte Cemetery. Brace Gibson lost both his nineteen-year-old wife, Luty Velmar, and his four-month-old child, Luty Etta, in 1888. Children ranging in age from stillborn to their teens died from accident, or diseases and epidemics of the time - pneumonia, typhoid fever, smallpox, influenza, or measles. Luty Velmar Gibson died of consumption (known today as tuberculosis).A descendent of San Gabriel Valley pioneers, Jerry Lynne Treinen, is currently researching documentation for a story about the Children of the Savannah. If you have any knowledge surrounding either the life or death of one of these children, she would be interested in hearing from you. Whether from events told by word of mouth, or information written in a family bible or journal, what you know of family history is important. Please contact her at jltreinen@gmail.com or P.O. Box 5399, Eugene, OR 97405.
November 2011 - CALIFORNIA HISTORIC LANDMARK APPLICATION
Savannah Memorial Park has submitted its application to the State of California to obtain Historic Landmark status. We are on the Commission's agenda for their January 2012 meeting and hope to receive approval.January 20, 2012 - HISTORIC LANDMARK DESIGNATION GRANTED
Savannah Memorial Park has been granted Historic Landmark status by the State of California, Historic Resources Commission. After several years of working toward this goal, we are thrilled to receive this honor. Many people contributed to the success of this effort from decades ago to current and we thank them all.